390 ‘illegal’ mobile towers in Pimpri

Conceding that a large number of mobile towers were operating on PCMC terrain with approval,the civic chief said this was because the matter has been sub judice for quite a while now. “The mobile tower companies had approached the court over the state government hiking the fees in 2005. Since the matter became subjudice we could not collect the fees and and necessary documents from them,” he said. Sharma said the civic administration has now appealed to the mobile tower companies to submit the relevant documents and pay the fees to make their functioning authorised. “It is important that the companies seek prior approval before setting up and make their mobile towers operations. Otherwise we will have to act against them. They should submit the required documents,pay the fees as things would be worked out accordingly after the court decision comes,” he said.

PCMC additional city engineer Vasant Kachi said after the state government had hiked the one time fees and doubled the deposit amount for erecting mobile towers which led to protest from the mobile tower companies. “The fees depend on the height of the towers. For instance,a 10-metre tower entails a fee of Rs one lakh according to the new government order. Besides,the fees the companies also have to pay the licence renewal fees every year,but the fees is only one-time,” he said.

Kachi said the mobile towers mushroomed as a result of the after the mobile companies appealed to the Bombay high court against the state government’s move hike fees and desposit amount. The high court gave a stay,but the state government approached the Supreme Court. “The matter is now pending in the Supreme Court. In the meantime,the mobile towers increased and began operating on their own. Now we have sounded them out about getting their functioning legalised,” he said. Most of the mobile towers have come up atop the residential buildings. The society gets a lumpsum amount from the concerned companies.

However,Lalita Vatkar,senior executive of Indus Towers said the issue is also about whether the towers are “constructed” or “installed.” “We are contending that the towers have been installed with permission from Department of Telecommunication and not constructed. Therefore,the civic bodies cannot charge us anything. The high court had in fact quashed the state government’s order after which it appealed in the Supreme Court.”